Galina Reznikov
Galina "Red" Reznikov is an inmate at Litchfield Penitentiary, portrayed by Kate Mulgrew. She is a powerful figure in the inmate population who held the position of Head Chef and is leader of a group known as Red's Girls. Red's character is based on Pop in the memoir, Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison. Biography Before Litchfield Red and her husband Dmitri ran a restaurant in Astoria, Queens. Dmitri befriended some members of the Russian mob. Red, on the other hand, struggled to befriend their wives. She would go out on walks with the ladies and try to fit in to their group. The wives patronized her and refused to laugh at her jokes. On one occasion, an upset Red punched one of the wives in the chest, rupturing a breast implant. This got the attention of the mob boss and forced Red and Dmitri to pay back a $60,000 debt ("Tit Punch"). ").]] She later impressed the same boss by offering sound advice that allowed her to swiftly climb the ranks of the organization ("Moscow Mule"). Arrival to Litchfield Red seemingly arrived to prison at the same time as both Anita DeMarco and Vee (although Vee revealed she had been to Litchfield previously). She explained to Vee that she had connections with Neptune Produce. Vee subsequently suggested that Red use them to smuggle contraband into Litchfield. Red began working in the kitchen with Norma and successfully smuggled items in for some time. When Vee discovered Red's growing business, she asked for a cut of the business. After Red refuses, Vee and her girls violently attacked Red, breaking ribs and puncturing a lung. Season One Red is feared and respected by most of the prisoners, and has a lot of influence with Healy. She is close to Nicky and is always accompanied by Norma and Gina. They both cater to her personal needs and work with her in the kitchen. Red runs a smuggling business out of her kitchen, but she refuses to import drugs of any kind. When Mendez begins to force her to use her connections to bring in drugs, she hatches a plan to have him removed from the prison. She also uses her resources to help some of the inmates overcome drug addictions, although they have only "two strikes" before she abandons them, as she "doesn't play baseball". She is initially nice to Piper until Piper unknowingly insults her cooking, and in response Red punishes her by starvation in order to force her to appreciate her food. Piper eventually repairs their relationship by making an ointment to help soothe Red's injured back. Red also has an odd obsession with a chicken that is allegedly seen on the prison grounds from time to time, as she wants to cook "real food" and also wants to absorb its "power". Toward the end of season 1 she's decommissioned from the kitchen by Caputo (after discovering Mendez's drug smuggling operation, for which Red takes the blame) and assigns Gloria as the new Master Chef. In an attempt to take Gloria and her "girls" out of the kitchen she sabotaged one of the ovens causing Gina to be injured thus straining her relationship with her "daughters". Season Two In Season 2, she becomes Piper's new roommate, and befriends her. At the same time, she attempts to come to terms with her loss of friends, and in the process joins the "Golden Girls," a group of older inmates. Upon discovering a disused sewage drain in an abandoned greenhouse in the prison grounds, Red restarts her smuggling business using the garden greenhouse as a front. When Piper is granted furlough, Red asks her to stop by the shop to check on how things are doing. Piper sees the business is closed down, and the space is for lease, but upon returning to prison lies and tells Red that the business is doing well. Red also gets in a feud over power with Vee, resulting in Vee attacking Red with a lock hidden in a sock ("slock") and Red being severely injured. Season Three After realizing she doesn't have much time left on her sentence, Red seals up the greenhouse sewage drain with concrete and begins to concern herself with what she will do with herself upon release. Red is confronted by her husband and sons on Mother's Day. Red's family are concerned when they see the injury sustained when Red was attacked by Vee but Red assures them she is OK. Red asks her family about the store and is concerned because Mother's Day is usually a large sales day for the store. The family lies and tells them everything is fine and the store is doing well enough that they could afford to close for the day. However she can tell from a lie and she confronts Piper. Red decides that she wants out with her husband for lying,etc After Sam Healy asks Red to translate for his wife in an attempt to mend their relationship, Red berates the woman, calling her a "mail-order bride," and defending Healy by saying that he "at least tried." Due to her kind words, the two begin flirting until Healy finds out it was a ploy to get work duty once again in the kitchen. When Nicky is sent to maximum, because of the crimes she committed with Luscheck, Red is seen as the caring mother that she was in season one. Red does eventually replace Gloria Mendoza as Master Chef, first being placed in a lowly position washing dishes, then taking over when Mendoza quits. She was, however, only allowed one day before MCC's new boil-in-the-bag meal plan was implemented, and prison food quickly becomes unbearable - so much so that a new currency of ramen packets to add taste to the "food" is introduced. Red is adamant that everyone in the prison knows that the meals are not her doing, and eventually starts cooking special dinners with vegetables from the garden she started with the Golden Girls to which tickets are available by lottery. Personality Cold and matronly, Red's influence in Litchfield is only rivaled by that of Miss Claudette ruling her side of the prison with an iron fist (and large amount of illegal red hair dye), albeit fairly. Her intolerance to drugs and structured smuggling ring shows a motherly nature and a keen intellect, something that had been developed and brought into Litchfield rather than raised from necessity within the prison. In previous flashbacks, Red was able to displace her husband, a low level mob goon, by impressing his boss with a piece of strategic advice which allowed her to gain his favor. It is unknown if this is the cause for Red's arrest. At the time of A Whole Other Hole, she had been at Litchfield for at least 12 years. Though a serious woman, Red can be known for being occasionally sentimental (especially for the women in her care) and humorous. When Piper says that she's seen a wild free-range chicken walking about freely in Litchfield, Red reveals a deep obsession with the "legendary bird" and hopes to cook it one day. (There are still some of the women who believe the fowl to be but a mere representation of what the person seeing it wants at the time. Red herself wants to cook it, other people still believe drugs, money, or guns are impossibly tucked away inside of it somehow, and Piper eventually chases the chicken to the end of Litchfield, where it awaits outside, tantalizingly representing freedom in their eyes.) Relationships Friends *Nicky Nichols - Her most loyal girl and an ex-junkie who Red reformed prior to the series. Nicky also thinks of Red like a mother, which reinforces their bond. However, when Tricia Miller is forcefully ejected from the flock for drug use, Nicky turns on Red in a moment of rebellious outrage by telling George Mendez how the older woman smuggles in her goods. *Norma Romano - a quiet woman, one of Red's girls, and helps Red when she can. *Gina Murphy- friend and helper in the kitchen. *Miss Claudette - Friend and occasional helper in the kitchen, the two bond over their mutual jadedness towards the younger inmates' drama. Claudette is perhaps the only inmate who can rival Red's cooking skills. *Lorna Morello - Also one of Red's girls, she can be considered second only to Nicky in terms of the Russian's command. During the WAC elections, Red had put her bid in for Lorna rather than Nicky, surprising the latter. Enemies *George Mendez - Red's arch nemesis in the series. When a picture of a prison mate's vagina is accidentally leaked and found on a porn site, "Pornstache" is forced to stall his drug dealing business in the prison whilst searching for the source of an unauthorized camera or cell phone brought in by an illegal smuggling ring. Worried that it might be drawn back to him, Mendez looks to alternative means and decides to merge his own dealings with Red's. However, due to Red's harsh views on drug use, Mendez must find a way to coerce her into cooperation: by finding out how exactly Red manages to bring her goods into Litchfield. With Nicky's help, Pornstache unfortunately figures out that it's through Neptune Produce (using previous connections to the Russian mob) and manages to make Red accept a merging of their interests, much to her disgust. He now holds her secret over her head like a noose, threatening to tell the Warden about her smuggling, should she resist, and uses it to harass her without a chance of retaliation. *Yvonne Parker (Vee) - An inmate who came to Litchfield around the beginning of Red's sentence. Vee advised Red to take advantage of her connections with Neptune Produce, a vendor for the prison. Red was hesitant to break the rules since breaking them is what put her in prison in the first place. Vee explained the situation as one of survival, and Red took her advice. Red trusted Vee as a friend, but Vee betrayed her in order to take control of the operation for herself. When Red refused to give up control, Vee and her gang attacked her and broke some of her ribs. Vee was released some time later. In the episode, "It Was The Change," Red attempts to strangle Vee to death but stops. Soon after, they agree to come to truce. However, at the end of the episode, Vee slocks Red in the greenhouse, meaning their truce was false, and Vee gets suspended for the attack. Memoir In the memoir "Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison" on which the television series is loosely based, the character of "Red" is based of a real-life prison inmate who is nicknamed "Pop," also Russian. "Pop" was in charge of the kitchen at Danbury Federal Correctional Institution, the prison where author Piper Kerman served a one year sentence for drug smuggling and money laundering. Like in the TV series, Kerman also insulted Pop's cooking, but received nothing more than a reprimand: Listen, honey, I know you just got here, so I know that you don’t understand what’s what. I’m gonna tell you this once. There’s something here called “inciting a riot,” and that kind of shit you’re talking about… you can get in big trouble for that… so take a tip from me, and watch what you say. - Pop Kerman and "Pop" eventually got along and created a strong bond. The Memoir is, in fact, dedicated to "Pop". The character of "Red" is one of only a handful of characters from the TV series to be loosely based on a real-life person. Memorable quotes Gallery Season 1 Promotional Pictures RedPromo2.png Red-0.jpg Season 2 Promotional Pictures Season 2 red.jpeg Others red1.gif red2.gif red3.gif red4.gif red5.gif red6.gif References *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Orange_Is_the_New_Black_characters Category:Litchfield Inmates Category:Season 1 Characters Category:Season 2 Characters Category:Season 3 Characters Category:Season 4 Characters